Discussion of China

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Discussion of China
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(No Transcript)
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Thinking about China

• The Basics
• The worlds most populous country
• Relative ethnic homogeneity
• Great linguistic differences within one language
• Poverty deep and widespread
• Great growth of middle class

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Thinking about China

• Key Questions
• Can the Chinese leadership realistically hope to
  limit the impact of the outside world to the
  economy?
• As the Chinese people learn more about other
  cultures and have more money to spend, wont they
  begin to demand political freedoms as well?
• Will the state continue to be able to put down
  protests like the one in Tiananmen Square in
  1989, especially if they become larger or more
  violent?
• What will happen if the CCP continues to have
  trouble recruiting talented and dedicated members
  who could become its future leaders?
• Hu Jintao and his colleagues are popularly
  referred to as the fourth generation of
  leaders. How might they change Chinese political
  life?
• And how will the fifth generation, slated to take
  over by 2014, accelerate or slow down the pace or
  change?

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The Evolution of the Chinese State

• The broad sweep of Chinese history
• Nearly 3,000 years of political history
• The worlds oldest large, centralized,
  bureaucratic state
• Near isolation for most of its history
• Europeans crashed in in the 19th century
• Chinese humiliated by European dominance

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Marxist Ideals (review of pre-test)

• Capitalism was a natural stage in the development
  of society.
• Change comes about because of inequalities and
  exploitation within the political-economic
  system.
• Marx predicted that communism would come first in
  highly industrialized societies.
• Coercive government would be unnecessary in the
  final state of development.
• Lenin felt that revolution in Russia required the
  leadership of an enlightened, activist group of
  revolutionaries.
• Lenin felt that structures of the state could be
  used to create socialism.
• Democratic centralism, according to Lenin, meant
  that policies would be made by the central
  leadership based on what they perceived as the
  will of the people.

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Marxist Ideals (review of pre-test)

• Mao based his communist Chinese revolution on the
  peasants, not an idea of global revolution, as
  Marx preached.
• The Chinese cultural revolution was part of a
  struggle against what Marx called the oppression
  of the state.
• China did not emphasize solidarity with other
  communist nations (as evidenced by their split
  with the USSR in the 1950s)

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Marxist Ideals (review of pre-test)

• Gorbachevs reforms were intended to preserve the
  Communist system in the Soviet Union.
• Gorbachevs reformed Communist economies allowed
  private ownership of business.
• Gorbachevs reforms were intended to decentralize
  both economic and political decision-making.
• Deng Xiaopings reformed in China have allowed
  greater economic freedom while strengthening the
  political power of the Communist party.
• Dengs reforms were not intended to insist that
  the peasants benefit as much as urban workers.

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What do the 5th and 14th Amendments mean by due
process?

• ANSWER the government is forbidden to take
  life, liberty, or property from anyone without
  due process of law.
• i.e. the government and all its agents must
  follow all legal rules and processes and those
  rules and process must be fundamentally fair.

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Is due process in the U.S. a process or a policy?

• ANSWER it is BOTH.

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ASSIGNMENT

• Read your assigned article/topic and answer the
  questions at the end of the handout.
• Choose a person from the group to record answers
  on the board for the class to see.

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Activity

• Divide into teams of 5 and designate one person
  to be the temporary group leader (TGL).
• TGLs will meet with me while everyone else reads
  their assigned topic.

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Activity (continued)

• PROCEDURE
• Vote on Group Leaders (GL) using ONLY the ballot
  you have been provided.
• After vote has taken place, stop with the
  reading, and discuss the following
• What are some ways that teachers and students
  can make the educational environment better at
  Liberty High School?

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Activity (continued)

• After discussing possible answers with your team,
  GLs should bring their list to me and we will
  discuss the answers.

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Debriefing

1. What is your reaction to this experience?
2. How democratic was the process?
3. How centralized was the process?
4. Would this process, if expanded, be effective in
   governing the whole country?
5. What conditions would facilitate the
   effectiveness of democratic centralism?
6. What conditions would undermine the
   effectiveness?
7. Has this process created a more educationally
   effective environment in the class?

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What is democratic centralism?

• ANSWER The Leninist and Maoist idea that
  Communist Party members are free to discuss and
  debate issues until the leadership-after
  listening to members debates- take a position on
  an issue. At this point, debate ceases and all
  party members take action to implement the
  partys position.

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democratic centralism

• Democracy is mainly to consult, not to give
  sovereignty to popular opinion.
• Requires unified discipline throughout the party
  top-level official party decisions are binding on
  party organizations and members.

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Progressive Labor Partys view of democratic
centralism
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Excerpt from the Chinese Peoples Daily on
democratic centralism
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Big Idea

• CENTRALISM IS NEVER SACRIFICED TO DEMOCRACY!

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Is democratic centralism a process or a policy?

• ANSWER process

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What is Mass Line?

• ANSWER The basic principle of Communism which
  states that government leaders learn best from
  the experiences of non-party workers. The party
  then takes the best aspects of the workers view,
  distills them, and forms a new and better
  version. This version is then returned to the
  masses in a form that will help them advance in
  the struggle of the revolution.

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Quote by Mao on mass line

• In all practical work of our party, all correct
  leadership is necessary from the masses, to the
  masses. This means take the ideas of the masses
  (scattered and unsystematic ideas) and
  concentrate them, then go to the masses and
  propagate and explain these ideas until the
  masses embrace them as their own, hold fast to
  them and translate them into action, and test the
  correctness of these ideas in such action. Then
  once again concentrate ideas from the masses and
  once again go to the masses so that the ideas are
  preserved and carried through. And so on, over
  and over again in an endless spiral, with the
  ideas becoming more correct, more vital, and
  richer each time.

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Mass line-Role of Local Party Leaders

• In this system, the party leads, but its
  leadership is not isolated from the opinions and
  preferences of the mass public.
• Leaders at the local level are expected to
  maintain a close relationship with ordinary
  citizens so the party organization can change
  their ideas to correct ideas.
• After hearing the publics ideas, local leaders
  then propagate citizens until the masses embrace
  them as their own. In this way, policy flows
  from the masses to the masses.

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Is mass line a process or a policy?

• ANSWER both, like due process.

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• DISCUSSION To what degree is mass line and
  democratic centralism democratic?

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1. Identify goals of the Great Proletarian
Cultural Revolution in China.

• Cleansing of Western values/ anti capitalism.
• Revising education
• Purging political enemies
• Reinforcing political legitimacy
• Purging educational institutions.
• Affirming revolutionary ideas/values.
• Promoting ideological conformity
• Repressing dissent
• Attacking intelligentsia/middle class.
• Discrediting the past/old order
• Elevating the status of the leader/cult of
  personality

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2. Explain what it means to say that a
government has transparency. How has the Chinese
government limited transparency since 1997.

• What it means..
• A government has transparency when it
  disseminates accurate political and economic
  information to the public.
• A government has transparency when it allows
  information about government and policy to
  circulate openly.
• A government has transparency when it allows
  citizens several points of access for obtaining
  information about governmental actions.

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• China has limited since 1997 by
• Closed government proceedings (e.g, courts).
• Censorship of information relating to the public
  policy or events of public relevance.
• Government control of the media, linked to
  transparency.
• Not publishing budgetary information or
  information on salaries of government officials.
• Suppressing any information that could be
  construed as damaging to the government.
• Secrecy in selection of leaders.

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3. Describe the status of private property in
China under Mao. Identify and explain one policy
undertaken by the Chinese government within the
past 30 years that contradicts that policy.

• Private property was not allowed (in most
  periods)
• The constitution of the Peoples Republic of
  China (PRC) prohibited private ownership of
  property property was owned by the people.
• Private property was redistributed to the
  landless/peasants-land reform.
• Private property was confiscated.
• Private property was collectivized.
• After collectivization of private lands, communes
  were formed.
• The state was the primary owner of property and
  means of production.
• People often had the right of use but no
  ownership.

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• Recently.
• Decollectivazation of land
• Disbanding of communes
• Private production allowed
• Privately owned enterprises
• Extended leases for land use
• Household responsibility system
• Constitutional reform
• new rights of ownership
• Enforcing the rule of law.

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4. Discuss various forms of political
participation used by Chinese citizens in the
last ten years.

• Economic Reforms for some this means that
  citizens have the opportunity to start their own
  business or make investments.
• Freedom to travel away from countryside to cities
  in search of employment.
• Political Reforms voting at the village level
  and ability to complain about corrupt officials.
  
• They can be voiced through letters to the editor
  of newspapers, calling special hotlines, or by
  calling public officials.

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5. What are some consequences of increased
opportunities for participation in China?

• Legitimacy of Communist Party is called into
  question, which leads to more instability for the
  government.
• No longer a safety net for citizens. They may
  get rich or poor, but no one there to take care
  of them. iron rice bowl

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6. Explain some of Chinas population growth
policies and why they have been persued?

1. One-child policy to ensure only one child per
   family, in most instances.
2. Fines for noncompliance incurred for having more
   than one child without state permission.
3. Preferential housing/educational opportunities
   for compliance.
4. Exemptions for ethnic minorities an rural areas
   to reduce opposition to one-child policy.

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• Why?
• Economic development
• Fear of unrest resulting from overpopulation.
• Relief of pressure on government budget.
• Strain on natural resources.

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7. What are some social or economic
consequences of manipulating population growth
rates?

• Social Consequences
• Popular resistance to the policy of restriction.
• Female infanticide missing girls
• Selective abortion
• Sex-ratio imbalance

• Economic Consequence
• Need for a security system to replace the
  traditional safety net provided by children for
  parents in large families.
• Reduction of poverty.
• Economic growth possibility.

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China has a communist system of government...
Pro Con